Quakertown man accused of crashing, setting fire to car

A Quakertown man has been receiving a mental evaluation since he drove his car into shrubs outside the Quakertown police station and set fire to the vehicle, police said.

The car attack by Timothy Swart, 31, may have been a response to an encounter that officers had with Swart three days earlier, police said.

Swart tried to crash into the police headquarters at 35 N. Third St. at 1 a.m. Sunday, but the car was stopped by bushes, borough police Detective Donald Bender said. No one was hurt.

''He tried to hit the building,'' Bender said Tuesday. ''The car stopped just short, getting caught in the shrubbery.''

Swart got out of the car, poured gasoline into it from a container and ignited it, probably with a match, Bender said. The car burst into flames and was destroyed.

''There's nothing of it left,'' Bender said.

The police station was not damaged, and no one was in the building at the time, police said.

Quakertown police captured Swart on Allentown Road about three miles away, possibly in West Rockhill Township. Police issued a warrant for Swart's arrest, but he was first sent to Grand View Hospital for an evaluation.

Just before the crash, Swart purchased $3 worth of gasoline at a filling station a block away, Bender said.

''We had a contact with him three days earlier,'' Bender added. ''It wasn't criminal in nature. But it could have had something to do with it. It was just personal issues concerning him and his mother.''